Youth Justice Board confirms death in custody

Writing in the YJB's latest annual report, the organisation's chief executive Colin Allars said: "Sadly, I have to report that a child died in one of our commissioned secure children's home places.

"Our thoughts and attention have been with the family and professionals that cared for the child and we await the outcome of investigations into the circumstances."

There has been one reported death in a secure children's home in 2017. Taylor Alice Williams, who was 17, died on 18 February while at the Aycliffe Secure Centre, which is run by Durham County Council and features a mixture of YJB and local authority commissioned places.

However, the Ministry of Justice has told CYP Now that this is not the incident referred to by Allars. It has refused to release details of the incident or in which secure children's home it happened, but has confirmed that an investigation is taking place.

It is the first death in youth custody since Daniel Adewole, 15, was found dead in his cell at Cookham Wood YOI in 2015. A coroner ruling that he died of natural causes linked to epilepsy.

News of the latest death comes amid ongoing concerns about safety in youth custody. Last week, HM Chief Inspector of Prisons Peter Clarke warned that the current state of youth custody is so dangerous that tragedy is "inevitable" unless urgent action is taken - although his remit relates to young offender institutions and secure training centres rather than secure children's homes.

The YJB's annual report also reveals that the board is no longer funding the three resettlement consortia it created as a way to bring services together to improve the outcomes and reduce the reoffending of young people leaving custody.

However, the report does say that the North East London and South London consortia have secured funding from the London Mayor's Office for Policing and Crime (MOPAC) to "train staff and deliver interventions for children and young people experiencing complex trauma".

The report did not mention the future of the South and West Yorkshire resettlement consortia.

The report also notes how the YJB's Turn Around to Work pilot, launched in 2014, had "limited success" in finding work placements for young people leaving custody. Since its launch, the project received 35 referrals and managed just five work placements in London and Greater Manchester.

The YJB relaunched Turn Around to Work in 2016 as a national forum charged with facilitating local solutions to finding jobs for young people leaving custody.

The report also reveals that the new chair of the YJB, Charlie Taylor, is being paid £60,000 to £65,000 a year - around £20,000 more than his predecessor Lord McNally who departed as chair on 17 March 2017.